


File Your Heart Next to Mine

by tarradiddle



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Office, Pepper is really organized, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-31
Updated: 2012-10-31
Packaged: 2017-11-17 11:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/551181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarradiddle/pseuds/tarradiddle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony shows up to surprise Pepper at the SI offices, only to be surprised by what she’s spending her time doing.</p>
<p>Set after The Avengers</p>
            </blockquote>





	File Your Heart Next to Mine

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve been reading tons of great Avengers fic, and I had a really boring job this week, and so, here: have some fluff about office work.

Most of the lights were out in the smaller offices as Tony sauntered through the upper floors of Stark Industries. It had that carpeted hush that was particular to office buildings, made of the whir of ventilation systems and the buzz of fluorescent lights when there were no human sounds to distract from them.  
  
The big office on the end was still lit, although the secretary at the door had gone home. He swung in casually without a pause. “Pepper!”  
  
Then he paused.  
  
“Wait, what are you doing?”  
  
She looked up, and smiled, if tightly. “Tony, I thought you weren’t getting in until late.”  
  
“And it’s a good thing I came early, because you are cheating on me with paperwork.”  
  
Pepper rolled her eyes at that, but also smiled a little more. Her hands flew over the wide table in the office, sorting various brightly colored papers and brochures into piles.  
  
“No, really, what are you doing? Don’t we have people to do this? Doesn’t that room full of copiers and sorters and whatnot have a button?”  
  
She laughed. “Tony, when’s the last time you handled actual paper?”  
  
He gave an exaggerated shudder. “Paper is for grandmothers who scrapbook and airplanes for kids. Plus, Pepper, how many trees died so you could have a desk rainbow? Doesn’t seem right.”  
  
Her hands went on stacking and sorting as she spoke. “Well, I’m sure if we had a magic ‘collate everything’ button, it would still refuse to handle half the types of paper we use or get irreparably jammed half the time, just like the rest of those machines.”  
  
“Well, my question about people still stands. This looks like the definition of why you hire interns.”  
  
“One, interns are supposed to be learning, and-”  
  
“They are, they’re learning that they better get their asses in gear so they can get a better job that doesn’t involve shitty intern work.”  
  
“-and two, we are short of interns this week because Sean has been seconded to Finance for the end of the quarter and Ann had to travel home for a family illness.”  
  
“So why can’t this wait until we are not short of interns? Why is my gorgeous CEO staying late on her birthday to make piles?!”  
  
“It’s not my birthday until tomorrow, Tony.”  
  
She hadn’t stopped working, but she also hadn’t stopped smiling, so he pressed, crossing to stand behind her. “Your birthday is on Saturday, which means it starts at 5:50 on Friday, when all good little executives knock off for the weekend.” He snuck his hands around her waist and tucked his chin onto her shoulder. “It is now 6:15, I hope you know.”  
  
“The magnet school event is tomorrow, Tony. Sharon in Education had to leave, her team has some last minute problem with a vendor for tomorrow, so I said I would finish these.”  
  
Tony looked down, actually reading the headings on the paper Pepper was organizing. Simple, encouraging pieces on the future of clean energy, industrial design, and others. “Ugh, why does that one have my picture on it? And why is it such a bad picture?”  
  
“Still your name over the doors, Stark.”  
  
“Oh, don’t say that. Fury and Rogers call me Stark and it’s starting to make me twitch.” Tony watched Pepper’s hands for a few moments, then added, “Your picture would make tons of kids want to go into technology.”  
  
“Uh-huh.”  
  
“Not like that! Well yeah, like that, but I’m sure you’re a big time role model for girls, running a top company and all.”  
  
She didn’t respond to that, but shifted gears, making different piles now. The supplies decreased and the finished piles grew. Tony circled the table, watching. “Wow, you are really efficient. No wasted movement, not handling each piece more than you have to.” He grinned at her from across the table. “It’s kinda beautiful.”  
  
She stopped for the first time since he’d come in, looking up in surprise. Then she laughed, her full, ringing laugh touched with joy and surprise.  
  
Tony smiled warmly, and said, “Okay, I get it, these need to get done. I’ll help.”  
  
She went back to sorting. “Ha, that is not a good idea.”  
  
“No, it’s okay, you’re putting these three under that one, and then inside this one...” He put a couple together in the time it took her to do ten, then tried to go faster. “Oww, damn.” He stuck a finger in his mouth. “See, paper is evil.”  
  
“Don’t be a baby. There’s some superglue in my top right drawer.”  
  
“Ha! Really?” He went over and rummaged around. “Awesome. Did you learn this from me? Admit it.”  
  
“I did not. The many uses of superglue are a long-held secret of paper-shufflers everywhere.”  
  
Pepper finished the last set, and started putting the piles of brochures and maps into folders. Tony brightened at the appearance of tabletop as the piles diminished. “Is this the last step? Because I am this close to calling in a SHIELD emergency or paging the Avengers or just hiring some people off the street to finish this for you.”  
  
“Almost done.”  
  
“Yes! Seriously, do you need more interns or a magic collater-folder or whatever? You would say if you did, right?”  
  
“Yes, Tony. I offered to do this one thing, but no one is taking advantage of me or preventing me from getting my real work done.” She shot him a glance through her eyelashes.  
  
“Oh, except when I come by and annoy you, is that what that look meant?” She just grinned and kept stuffing folders.  
  
“And... done. Help me bring them-”  
  
“-NOT all the way down to Education!”  
  
“-just outside the door, we’ll leave them on the desk there.” They piled the folders on her secretary’s desk, and Pepper turned off the light in her office and grabbed her jacket and purse.  
  
They were waiting for the elevator when Tony shot her a sidelong look and said, “You didn’t ask again.”  
  
“Huh? Ask what?”  
  
“Why I got in early.”  
  
“I assumed you switched your flight or something.” She cast him a suspicious glance. “Why?”  
  
“Or something.” He bounced lightly as they stepped into the elevator. “I came to take you out to dinner.”  
  
“But we’re going out tomorrow, we have reservations. I know, I made them.”  
  
“Yes, and it’s going to be wonderful. But I know we’ve been busy lately, with one of us molding the future of the free world and all. And I’ve been busy superheroing while you’ve been doing that.”  
  
She snorted a little at that. “Okay, so this is what, extra quality time?”  
  
“Nope. Tomorrow is us time.” He grabbed her elbow and escorted her out the front doors. “Tonight, I wanted to give you something extra only I can offer.” He arched an eyebrow at her bemused expression, and led her towards a waiting limousine, and a group of people waiting around it.  
  
“Geez, Stark, you took long enough. Hi, Miss Potts.” Clint waved to her from the roof of the car. Pepper had to blink once to recognize them all, standing around in generic civilian clothing.  
  
Natasha gave her a little smile, a cheek kiss and a gift bag. “Open it later. Nice to see you, Pepper.”  
  
Steve handed her a small package as well. “Happy Birthday, Miss Potts.”  
  
“Thank you, I-”  
  
“Have you decided where you’re taking this circus, Tony?” Bruce asked from where he leaned against the car.  
  
“Sort of, I thought-”  
  
“Pepper! You are as beauteous as Tony says! It is a pleasure to meet you, and I am told that I will distract you from Tony’s drinking!”  
  
“Hello, Thor, nice to meet you as well.” She’d met the rest at least briefly when she was in New York, but the Asgardian had been away until recently.  
  
Pepper stepped back and took a steadying breath, but caught Tony’s subtly anxious face out of the corner of her eye. She raised her voice. “Thank you all so much for coming for my birthday! Tony has told me a lot about all of you, and swears up and down that partying with the Avengers is the best kind of party. So what are we waiting for?”  
  
The group responded with laughter and shouts and started piling into the car.  
  
Tony caught her aside as Steve and Thor navigated the small limo doors. “It’s okay? I thought, I mean, you see all the scary terrible parts and none of the fun stuff, and that’s not fair, and...”  
  
“Tony, it’s fine. It’s great.” She smirked. “I’m looking forward to getting your new ‘coworkers’ to dish about you.”  
  
“Hey, now, that’s not fair.”  
  
“My birthday, my rules.”  
  
“Oh, that’s, I guess that’s fair.” His grin had turned downright sappy around the edges, but she found she didn’t mind.  
  
“Damn straight.”  
  
Steve called out, “You guys coming?”  
  
Pepper stepped in to give Tony a kiss: apology, gratitude and affection all in one quick moment, before they dashed to the car.


End file.
